Cassandra Pendragon
The next few minutes were quite hectic but since I was allowed to watch the chaos safely from in between two gigantic, golden paws, my back propped up against a rumbling, scaly wall, I didn't feel pressured. Connected as we were Viyara was very much aware that I hadn't fully recovered yet and until the dragoness became convinced that I had regained my strength I wouldn't move.
My own judgement, of course, was about as impactful as a toddler's wailing and truth be told I didn't mind. I had always felt close to her, had enjoyed her company, but ever since she had started going out with Aurelia I had also begun feeling… safe around her, secure. Strange as the comparison might seem it felt like she had grown up and I wasn't forced to see her as a child anymore but an equal. Almost like a parent with a daughter who had finally managed to stumble her way through puberty. Not that I knew particularly much about the subject. Luckily I had been able to go from a childhood to adulthood and skip the ugly, distressing parts in the middle. With my jealousy issues it wouldn't have been pretty, that much I knew.
Unfortunately it wasn't just me lying on my back without a care in the world. The dragoness had taken the chance to bring herself up to speed, while the sisters were being carried away by their people, and was rummaging through my memories right now, which, of course, resulted in:
"And when did you plan on telling us about the ship," she asked while I was watching my mother and grandmother slowly calm down the neighbours, who had somehow taken offence at the fireworks I had created. Either that or they were worried about the perfectly round hole in the ground, the edges of which were incidentally still glowing.
I took in a deep breath and ignored the smells of burning earth, spilled wine, sizzling fat and unwashed bodies to focus on Viyara's peculiar scent of molten gold and… stardust. She really was growing up. "Never, as you very well know," I groaned mentally. "But I guess that's not going to happen. As much time as I've already lost… they'll probably arrive at the harbour long before I can make myself scarce. Why? Are you afraid of the big bad slug? Don't worry, you're taller and you're still growing."
"Hilarious. For someone who's been fretting over the size of her bust since I know her you sure are surprisingly prepared to joke about growth." Ouch. I wasn't used to barbs like that from her and it took me a moment to puzzle out why she was upset. She was fuming because she thought I had shared my own magic, not just some magic, with the sisters and she was jealous. So much for acting like an adult.
"Oh boy, do I really have to spell it out for you," I replied, quite casually, I might add, even though she had hit a nerve. Yay me. "What happened to them has nothing, or at least very little, to do with me. I just made sure neither Serena nor Emilia will ever be poisoned by whatever idiotic conditions Amazeroth has included in his spells and they sure as hell don't carry a part of me around in their chests. If you want to be mad at me you could at least focus on something that makes sense. Why I even allowed that dried up skeleton to meddle with my energies in the first place, for example." I felt her urge to argue but she swallowed the impulse and took the peace offering for what it was.
"And why did you?"
"No clue. Up until a few days ago I would have been willing to bet that no one, not even another immortal besides Ahri, could ever have tempered with my magic but apparently I was mistaken. I should at least have felt it… if I did I can't remember though and it's futile to speculate. I… look, I have an honest question but I'm not going to ask if you're not done snarling at me. Are you?"
"For the moment," she relinquished grudgingly but immediately added: "I'm sure you'll give me another reason, sooner rather than later… Sorry."
"Fair enough," I said with a chuckle, "but it still was below the belt… well, it wasn't but you know what I mean. Anyways, when last you succumbed to your… possessiveness you accused me of not doing everything in my power to stop Amon and Amazeroth. Do you know where I'm going with this?" She did but that might have been more due to her unique insights into my thoughts and less to her inherent brilliance.
"Ever since Ahri told you that you don't have to really fear anyone anymore but another immortal you're wondering if you shouldn't at least try to hunt them down. Right now. Am I right?" I blew up my cheeks and allowed the air to escape slowly, weighing my words.
"More or less. I don't want to even meet Amazeroth, that might result in his wards failing, but I do wonder… maybe I could simply sneak into some godforsaken place… transform, swallow and be out of there before anyone's even the wiser. I know in my bones that it's an horrendous idea but I need someone to tell me why. Usually I'd pester Ahri but I already have. She agrees, by the way, but I'd like to hear if you think along the same lines." Transcendent telepathy was truly a marvel. And useful. Not to mention that the dragoness was almost preening, filled with pride. Of course she still had to play coy:
"And you're asking me for a rational explanation? Have you met me? Should I start worrying about your health again?" She was mocking me subtly but two could play that game.
"Don't sell yourself short. I know how difficult our relationship is for me to properly understand, I don't even want to know how I'd fare if I didn't have several hundreds of lifetimes of experience, but that has nothing to do with us, in any way, shape or form. So… yes, I do expect you to use that oversized head of yours properly. It surely is big enough to come up with a few ideas. Hells… how much have you grown over the last days?"
"A few metres, but you could have phrased that much less… insultingly."
"Call it payback. For right now and… you know, the bust comment. Besides, I'm only seven, remember? I can be childish, too."
"Very true." I had walked right into that one, hadn't I? "Let's see… what do you think would happen, if you did? I'm not stalling, I honestly don't know enough about what you can do and I don't want to start digging through any memories that are older than… let's say seven years?"
"Wise choice but unfortunately neither do I. You've seen my second skin, though, haven't you? I'm sure it'd be enough."
"For a bloodbath. How sure are you that Amazeroth wouldn't protect his puppet?"
"Not sure at all. Quite the contrary."
"But… he didn't intervene when Amon threatened Free Land."
"He didn't, but there are a few reasons, I think. One, Amon was long gone before I arrive and, more importantly… it was Amon's plan, his scheme. It wasn't mine to control."
"Then… how important is it that you and the demon don't try to kill each other right now?"
"Immensely. If he died… my siblings would find us. Maybe not today, but tomorrow. Literally. In a way that emaciated egomaniac is holding my whole world hostage. And if he won…"
"And there's your answer. If you can't be certain that you can either accomplish Amon's death undetected or that you can weather the fallout of a fight between yourself and Amazeroth, you shouldn't go. But you… shouldn't we start fighting in different ways? He's suffered a defeat, he's weak. Isn't it about time that we started doing something… anything, really?'
"Like what?"
"I don't know… send someone to the slave islands…"
"Already have," I interrupted. "Gods are pretty god spies. He's even found something… damn it, I have to find out what it is before I leave."
"I can do that, or at least I can send someone. You're not getting up, just yet. You're still sweating. But shouldn't we start sending… soldiers?"
"Thanks… you're right, I don't want to move, yet. Which soldiers and what for? Slaughtering people on the vague possibility that they might help him in the future? Like you said, he didn't have the time to do much, yet. Chances are he's trying to build some sort of pathway to tap into his resources, half a world away, and make our lives as miserable as possible in the meantime. That's what we have to prevent at all costs. If you know how, I'm all ears. Ultimately… I fear we have to stall for time until Ahri and I feel confident enough to challenge the demon directly or we have to somehow form an alliance on this continent that can face an empire… I can't quite say which option I expect to happen sooner, or think of as more likely. If I did, I'd know what to do."
"Will you let us come, Aurelia and me?"
"At the end? Against Amazeroth? The two of you and my mom are the only ones I'd even consider taking but, truth be told, no. Viyara… he could end you, burn you, annihilate everything you are, you ever were. With a stray thought. Just between us… I'm not even sure I want Ahri to come but I don't have much of a choice there. She can ignore me if she wants to… you can't."
"Aren't you trying to teach your sister how to do just that?"
"No. I'm trying to teach her patience and resilience. She'll never succeed. She can't. But I don't want her to know. Otherwise she wouldn't really try and that's the whole point, isn't it?" She took a moment to digest my words and I could feel her steely tendons and powerful muscles twitch behind me when she adjusted her posture.
"Are you going to take the time to teach me as well, somewhere down the line?"
"Do you want me to? If so, all you gotta do is ask but I didn't plan on doing so. What I can show you… it'd revolve around your transcendent abilities and they aren't very pronounced, yet. Remember, our link goes both ways. I do know how you felt when my magic protected you from Amon's domination. I don't think you're quite there, yet. Do you?" A warm wind tussled my hair when she exhaled deeply and raised her head to the sky, her mind wandering. She was trying to recall how she had reacted back then, but the memories were hazy, distorted by the fear she had experienced.
"I don't know," she finally admitted, "and I trust you. If you say it's too soon, I'll accept it. I do wonder, though… how long do you think it's going to take?"
"Mephisto told you, didn't he? Usually centuries. But if you're anything like me, and chances are you are, I don't think we'll have to wait that long. A few months? A year maybe? Your scales aren't crystallising, yet, are they?"
"A scarce few. Wanna see?"
"I'll take your word for it. I don't feel like scampering across your body at the moment. Incidentally, where is your lovesick shadow? I thought Aurelia wouldn't leave your side."
"She didn't want to, but we both agreed that you're going to try to run off as soon as you can walk without stumbling again and she's trying to prepare everything we need. She really is precious. Who would have thought that someone like her would turn out to be so motherly?" Honestly, I wasn't that surprised. She had been abused for most of her life, which meant overcompensating, or at least trying to act entirely contrarily to how she had been treated, was pretty natural. "That was uncalled for," Viyara complained.
"I didn't say it out loud, did I, but you can hardly fault me for thinking. Get out of my head if it bothers you." She was on the verge of a decidedly stern reply when something else caught her attention. She had been talking about Ahri and me with Aurelia the night before and one particular part of the conversation was gradually sliding into her focus. Luckily I didn't have to rummage through their entire conversation, since she willingly explained what was bothering her.
Her gaze didn't waver from a group of humans, who had been lucky enough to catch Sera's attention with their loud complaints and now had to suffer through a rather thorough explanation of how much their perceived grievances mattered to my grandmother at teeth-point, but she didn't really see them. She was… worried? No, truth be told, she was scared. From one second to the next an expanding ball of ice cold fear had manifested in the pit of her stomach and even though she tried to sound casual, she couldn't fool me. I could feel it, just like I felt my own anxiety grow while she said:
"Cassy, I have to ask you something as well. You're called immortals… are you? Immortal, I mean." Where was this coming from? I knew it stemmed from memories of her childhood and the conversation with Aurelia but I couldn't quite discern why or what bothered her so much.
"In a sense. We can be killed, hells, I nearly was a few decades ago, but it's not easy. It takes another immortal to accomplish our final death. As for our incarnations… we're not really flesh and blood and we're unbelievably tough but in theory it could be done. I still think it'd take a transcendent component to kill us but there might be a way without it. A few weeks ago a strike to the head would have ended my life. An attack on my soul still could. Mind you, I'd be reborn, but Cassandra Pendragon would be dead, reduced to a memory that wouldn't even make much of a difference in comparison to the endless aeons I've already lived through. Right now, I think I would truly be gone. Does that answer your question?"
"Why do you even tell me? Isn't your best protection that nobody knows?" I frowned.
"Maybe, but if I can't trust you… it won't really matter anyways, will it? What's going on?"
"I… Aurelia told me that Sarai might have used her as an assassin, once or twice. She thinks she was forced to go after young immortals and kill them before they could mature. For Sarai it was a game, for her it was hell… and incidentally the first time she met you. You got in her way and she was lucky enough to escape before you found her but the dread of the Lightbringer breathing down her neck never left her. But that's not the point… my father, when I was young I remember him meeting with… someone. I've never thought of that day before last night, but he told me back then that sometimes even dragons needed help. A few days later one of his rivals perished, poisoned in his hoard." Still frowning I asked:
"Let's leave Aurelia being forced to act as my sister's butcher out of it for the moment… you think that Amon might know those people and has tasked them with eliminating Ahri or me?"
"I don't think he'd want to kill you, but abduct you? I… maybe it's stupid, I just don't know, but what if someone was to… I don't know, poison your drinks? If you weren't prepared, would it work?" Shit, as carelessly as I had been acting, maybe… probably. A poison was a poison and I had allowed myself to become intoxicated more than once.
"Maybe," I replied slowly. "Look, magic, poison, weapons… in the end, I don't think the tool matters. We have to be tricked or blackmailed into allowing it to work. But when we do… yes, I think it could. Damn it, do you honestly mean to tell me that there are more societies like the Soulcatchers out there, powerful enough that even dragons ask for help? Figures… damn it!"